


The Burden of Belonging

by Corehealer



Series: Burden and Belonging: Sarah's Shadow - Emet-Selch/WoL Ship Shadowbringers and Ongoing FFXIV Fanfiction [1]
Category: Ascian - Fandom, Final Fantasy XIV, Shadowbringers - Fandom
Genre: Amaurot, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Ascian, Emet-Selch, F/M, FemWoL, Forgiveness, Other, Reconciliation, Redemption, Regret, Reunions, Romantic Soulmates, Soul Bond, Soulmates, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:54:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26335219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Corehealer/pseuds/Corehealer
Summary: A first foray into fan fiction, prompted by the inspiring work of others in the Ascian fandom, and by my experiences of FFXIV Shadowbringers.Female WoL and Emet-Selch, and an exploration of memory and the act of remembering; of their first meeting, and the events of their reunion after many millennia. Romantic, but also a thematic exploration. Some embellishments. Some heavy themes.
Relationships: Azem/Solus zos Galvus | Emet-Selch, Solus zos Galvus | Emet-Selch/Original Character(s), Warrior of Light/Emet-Selch
Series: Burden and Belonging: Sarah's Shadow - Emet-Selch/WoL Ship Shadowbringers and Ongoing FFXIV Fanfiction [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1913674
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	1. The End

“Where does one even begin?”

She placed the quill back down upon the desk gently, hands cupping her face under the long shadow of a brimming wizard’s hat, leather and cloth worn in many places with the scars of war and the road, metal trim beginning to tarnish in places. It was evening, and her room in the Pendants was as warm and inviting as always, though seemingly bereft of some of the rougher charms of roadside camps and Eorzean inns that she had become accustomed to in her long career.

Tea was boiling in the far corner atop the stove, and as it hissed the shoebill, her strange new companion in this place, had opted to depart for some other domain for a time. Otherwise the room was silent; even the wind from outside and the sounds of others outside the doors had gone quiet. As if in anticipation of what she would write.

“No words have come to me. A black mage’s grimoire is a sight easier it seems by far to pen than this… this recollection…”

She had resolved, again and again these many months. She must write it down while it was still fresh. These many memories, these unexpected revelations. _The burden of knowledge_. Her fellow Scions had seen pieces of it too, but in her mind it was she alone who had been given a fuller reception of all that Emet-Selch and Elidibus had sought to impart, or perhaps, in the latter case, had sought to forget. And she had been given quite the revelation indeed.

“How long have I been doing this? Do I even know? Can I ever know?”

She rose from the desk near her bed, where she had spent recent nights tossing in troubled sleep, strewn blankets and haphazard pillows a testament to that. She sighed, removed her hat and her new robes, and dimmed the lights, retiring for a time to the kitchen table to drink her tea and think. She stared listlessly into the near distance, lost in thought.

“How do I even begin to come to terms… to explain. What will it take?”

She had come at the Exarch’s bidding to aid this beleaguered world on the brink and bring it and, by extension, her own home from destruction. She had succeeded, and by her arcane might and the aid of her friends the First had been freed from its impending doom. But unlike the other times her efforts had borne hard won fruit, she felt no joy in this victory. She felt only profound regret. A strange longing, eating at her soul. The weight of his final words…

“ _Remember us_.”

“What was it I was supposed to remember? You barely gave me anything to do so!”

A fist came down on the table, her other hand already holding back now all too familiar tears. The entire time she had seen him, she had seen not an Ascian or some Garlean spectre. She had seen some altogether indescribable unfolding, and evolution, of emotions, in the shape of a man. A man that, over time, had poked and prodded her incessantly, tugging at the edges of her sight, of her mind, her curiosity. A man that she had felt some familiarity with despite never having met him before that fateful day in the Dossal Plaza.

When she awaited the return of the Ladder in Kholusia to function, he had sought to paint a picture for her while the others were busy labouring away. It had been their only moment to talk at any length away from prying eyes and ears, and she had been in that moment divided in her attention between duty and the visions of the long gone era of which he had spoken.

“ _I believe you would like it, having witnessed the things you have_.”

“Amaurot.”

It had lasted but a few moments, but it was in that conversation, she remembered, that she had begun to feel some shift, in both him and herself. Some unspoken conversation, just below the words. A gauging of the aether, or something else? She still knew precious little of the Echo even after so many years of headaches and being swept away on its currents. And who could say what depths of power his ilk could claim to wield? She had seen many displays of it in her confrontations with the Ascians but could only guess as to how they could turn their wills in more peaceful moments.

“I can’t believe I even lend some credence to his words after all this time… he could have easily made the whole thing up. A careful fabrication like a glamour writ large. He was a slave to Zodiark and nothing more.”

She didn’t believe that. She couldn’t believe that. Not with how the words he had spoken had rung true in her heart.

She sat with that for a moment, then shook her head.

“I was writing. I should get on with it.”

She finished her tea and returned to her desk. Desk lamp lit, all else grew dark as the hour wore on. Ink in quill, she began to remember.

***

‘When I left home, all those years ago, I had resolved to find a place in the world for myself. To be released from hidebound tradition, from the expectations of family, the loss of a sister and the demands of arrogant kin. Where I would wander, I did not care; I only wished to be free to follow my heart. And so I did, and for many years traveled the length and breadth of Ilsabard and Othard, always wary to remain far from Garlean advances and the predations of man and beast.’

‘It was in Eorzea that I found a home, and where in those early days the Echo first came to me, as if drawn out from slumber by the presence of the Scions with the gift, and of the Paragons and their servants stalking me in the shadows. It was in those early years that I sought out all the tools of battle and magic I could lay hands on, embracing a hunger for the strength to protect this true home I had found.’

She hesitated a moment as she wrote the words, then continued.

‘I used that strength to stop the Garleans, the Dravanians and more. I put to shame the works of the myriad foes laid out against Eorzea and made more friends and allies in those many adventures than I could have ever imagined. Many of them are with me still, and dear to my heart. Many more reside beneath the ground, and I mourn them still.’

Flashes of Ysayle, Haurchefant, Moenbryda and Papalymo drifted within her mind’s eye, each disappearing as quickly as they had arrived. Soon others came and went, so many faces she could scarce remember them all, and if they still lived. Had this been how he had felt in that final battle?

She hesitated again for a moment longer. Leaves outside the window rustled in the distance as the wind passed by. Then silence again.

‘I did so many impossible things, but it is the people who helped me and carried me along the way that I remember the most. The people without whom none of my many accomplishments would have been possible. They can hardly be called mine, but that doesn’t stop the bards singing it so all the same…’

She saw the wandering minstrel pass by her mind’s eye now, ever the whimsical one, strumming his tunes.

‘And the time spent writing. Following Lord Edmont’s example. Recording my life, even as it continues to grow in the telling. I often don’t feel I deserve any of this.’

Had other famous personages throughout history felt as such? How had he regarded his place in the ‘history’ of those he saw as his inferiors? His tools?

‘I spend less time on the road these days and more in my books, advancing the cause of black magic, my truest passion, and late nights among the stacks in the Ossuary in Ul’dah.’

She stopped again; the last time she had been there, she had been feverishly trying to find every scrap of lore on the Ascians and other void entities who were recorded to associate with them in written record. She had done the same in recent weeks within the confines of numerous other locales, such as the Great Gubal Library and the Baldesion Arsenal. Places she had swept clean before for knowledge, she now picked clean again, but to no avail. No new information, nothing to reassure her or give her answers. Just conjecture and hearsay.

“What was I trying to say… it keeps being just out of focus.”

She wrote a few more paragraphs, musing on past travels and friends. A sentence or two about her academic works for the Order of Nald’thal. Words of thanks for her companions in the Scions; Y’shtola her research partner. Alphinaud and Alisaie who had ever been there to cheer her spirits up in dark moments. Urianger, who had often inspired her own astrological divinations. Thancred, Tataru, Krile, now even G’raha, a man she thought she would never see again who thought the world of her, and more. They too passed across her mind’s eye in turn, smiles and kind words and patted backs.

Her thoughts turned to more faces of adventurers she had known, and even loved. With whom she had broken bread, bled with, shared hopes and dreams and beds with, grown older and wiser with…

His admonitions returned again. The confrontation in the Capitol. The heated words and accusations. Like bitter ash in her throat. So different from the Ladder. And even then… even after everything…

The quill slipped from loosened fingers. A small patch of ink dotted the tile floor, followed by several solitary tears, blackening as they mingled with the ink.

“Why didn’t you just tell me? Couldn’t you see?”

She placed her head slowly down on the desk.

“I wanted to tell them all. How I feel. What I saw. What it means. I wanted to remember. To keep my promise. But I cannot find the words. It all seems so useless now.”

“I wanted to tell them all I had seen. But how can I when I don’t even know myself?”

She repeated the words.

“Know myself.”

She had not felt like herself since the confrontation with Elidibus, but in truth the gnawing doubts and memories had started far earlier, right around the time she had met Emet-Selch. Right around the time she had first glared at what she had thought would simply be another threat to her loved ones, her friends, her world.

And he was all those things. He had been. He had been.

Hadn’t he?

“Elidibus did not recognize me. I don’t even recognize myself anymore.”

She closed her eyes and thought of nothing for a time, almost drifting to sleep as she attempted to calm her raging thoughts and feelings.

“Elidibus.”

She bolted upright. Moving towards her robes, she pawed around in the folds and pockets for it. In a moment it was on her desk, that most curious orange object.

“Hythlodaeus gave me this stone. I had almost forgotten, in the rush afterwards… and the vessels, and the research, and…”

The stone pulsed briefly, a brilliant flash of orange and yellow light. Then it sat dormant on her desk.

“He gave this to me by way of a familiar memory. It saved me. It gave me a name. A title. Azem. My name? My title?”

She turned the little orange crystal in her hands over and over, caressing it’s lines gently. Urianger had remarked at how it had put into his mind the sigil of Azeyma, the Warden. Eorzea’s much revered sun goddess. Often she had looked upon her visage in the works of Belah’dia and more modern shrines on her many travels. She had even prayed for the fallen Scions after the Waking Sands attack at her oldest shrine, in the hills overlooking the Burning Wall, a place she had later come to regard as special for various reasons.

She could never quite place why she kept returning there, aside from the beautiful views. The pulsing orange crystals…

“He couldn’t have invented all this. No.”

Her mind raced at all the things she had seen, and now reviewed in her mind, again and again in a new light.

“He was speaking true. And he must have known. Even then.”

Thordan’s final words came from nowhere into her memory.

“ _What are you_?”

She stared out the window. Dusk had become night, and stars filled a brilliant night sky. Far above, constellations of all kinds lit their way across the firmament, illuminating her largely darkened room. The shoebill remained conspicuous with its continuing absence.

“I have ever resented an unanswered question. And if there were ever a question to trouble me so, it would be this one. No book or spell or work of man seems able to attend to it. No answers come.”

She placed a hand on her chest, controlling her breathing now to relax her nerves.

“I have only this feeling now. I must set it aright. I must needs know.”

She placed the quill off the floor back into it’s inkwell. She cleaned and tidied the floor and her bed. Set the stove off and closed the windows. A splash of cold water on her face. Her robes and trusted Paikea at her back. The Azem stone inside her innermost pocket, close to her heart. Her pack at her side.

She flipped her hat and stared a moment into it’s voluminous interior. She knew where she needed to go. She placed the hat on her head as she had so many times before, took a breath, and walked outside into the cool night air.

***

“Ye certain this is the spot, Warrior of Darkness? Seems like aught but open sea, like all the other times.”

“Yes, I’m sure Inewyl. As always I am grateful for you indulging me in this late hour, and with discretion.”

He shrugged and shook his head.

“Far be it for me to tell the saviour of our fair lands her business, or blabber about it. I jus’ hope that these late night excursions are striking your fancy true. Tis’ a cold one this eve’, and I don’t envy any folk as choose to go swimming in this murk.”

She smiled.

“ _Nevertheless_.”

With a swift movement she was in the water. With a final nod and farewell, she was under the waves, making rapid speed downward. Inewyl shrugged again, chuckled to himself, and began rowing back to the Yards. Needed to get back before the misses wondered if he’d spent a fair bit too long at the tavern in Wright. What a strange tale this would make for his grandchildren.

***

The shadow of Amaurot remained just as she remembered it. Shades walking silent streets, lights in empty windows, the distant sounds of the ocean in all directions. The occasional whispers of long gone souls, speaking in hushed tones of the coming deluge. She’d been here plenty of times before, ever since he had first lured her and her companions here with his ‘invitation’.

Her passage with dignity into monstrosity denied with the events of their final meeting, she instead used this place to try and remember, again and again, with little success. It meant something to her, this city, just as it had to it’s creator. But no matter how hard she tried, and how many shades she spoke with, she found precious few answers to her burning questions.

None could recall her name, nor knew of where that elusive old new friend of hers was at any given moment, even within his ostensible Bureau, where only vague and evasive answers met her queries at the front desk. They only saw her as a child, or a ward of Emet-Selch, come to call on him before the eve of those fateful Final Days.

Occasionally in more recent days she had studied the ruins among the Ondo Cups, those solid structures embedded in the ocean floor, for any clues. She had observed the phantom Amaurot from above, atop the cliffs or bestride her many mounts, gazing over every street, imprinting their layout in her mind. She had even spent a night sleeping on the floor of the Capitol, scant ilms away from where he had stood before the flaming gateway, looking out upon that colossal hall, trying desperately to remember.

All of this empty artifice, up until the moment she had been given the stone by Hythlodaeus, all of it was all she had left of him, and it was a comfort simply to be here for that reason. Even when answers weren’t forthcoming, it was a place that was warm to her despite itself. It had been surreal at first, even frightening, but with each visit she had come to know the stones and the towering spires with more familiarity and had even begun to see the aether beneath them, as ‘Shtola had upon their arrival.

“Guess it’s to be another late night here. Very well.”

She climbed the steps of the Capitol, slid open its vast doors, and took her place on the floor, in that same spot near the now closed, and seemingly barred, door that sat at its lobby’s far end.

In anticipation of this occurrence she had brought a bag of sundries and blankets so as to ensure she had more comfort for her time on the floor. She unfurled them from her inventory one by one, taking care not to disturb the place as if at any moment some shade or living creature would enter and come upon her in this moment of vulnerability.

A gas lamp flared, and she sat down upon her small makeshift bed, munching quietly on a piece of leavened bread. She made nary a noise, but the odd sound echoed from her spot across the walls of that cavernous interior.

“Come on Emet. What more do I have to do? What more do I have to see to remember?”

As she finished her snack and wrapped herself and her robe close, her eyes dimmed. She thought back on her times here, and her time with Ardbert, and her time speaking with Hythlodaeus, both when he revealed himself and, later, when he revealed the Azem stone to her. He was as much a part of this stage as any of the other shades, but for some reason had sought her out at pivotal moments. Always with answers, and important information, but always holding things back, teasing much as Emet had with his words.

“How could he act so, as a shade? Without the permission and intention of his recreator?”

Ardbert had been as surprised as she to learn of their connection, of their shared soul. She had always been glad for his time with her in the First and respected his skills after having battled with him and his own companions on the Source in different times. Now his own essence stirred within her, filling her with warmth and the weight of many summers spent much as she had spent her own; fighting, living, laughing, loving and suffering in the company of others. She never felt quite so alone now with him ever present, not like she had been when she had left home. It all felt like another life ago now, before all of this.

“Now I know how you felt, Ardbert. All those years as a shade. All the friends in the world and none to understand this… whatever this is. They may as well all be gone.”

She gazed half awake around the still empty hall. In the distance, the ocean continued it’s quiet churning. Of the shades outside, she could discern no movement or speech.

“Don’t even know why I choose this over a warm feather bed in the Crystarium…”

After a few moments, sleep claimed her.

***

Hours passed, and she rested in that spot, propped up against the wall but slightly off to one side, slumbering. She dreamt no dreams, only hearing distant sounds of half remembered days, the cries for help, the raging fires. Memories, long hidden from view, disjointed, alien and yet oh so familiar. She had run up the steps of the Capitol, covered in rubble. Pushed the doors ajar with great force, searching for survivors. Searching…

A crackling noise, like lightning.

Something far above, shaking the foundations.

A piercing cry.

Darkness.

***

She gasped for air. Pulled blankets off from her prone form and wretched, as if she had been drowning. In the fits of her startling awareness, she dropped the Azem stone to the floor, it’s noise of stone upon stone ringing through every corner of the room. After a moment of composure, she panned around in the darkness searching for it before grasping it in her hands once more, now going over it in clawed fingers.

“ _Snap_.”

“ _Your_.”

“ _Fingers_.”

Her eyes widened.

“E-Emet?!?”

She paused. Only silence and the distant ocean greeted her. No sign of anyone in the hall. No shades, no life, no sounds, no Ascians. Nothing.

She gazed down at the stone. It sat in her palm, dormant, no lights.

After a few minutes of thought, she took off her clawed gloves and placed them by her pack.

She snapped her fingers, attempting to mimic him.

Nothing happened.

She snapped them again. Again nothing.

She stared at the stone.

“Am I going mad down here?”

She thought back on Emet’s snapping gestures. As he had done during their battle. As he had done when he plucked Y’shtola from the Lifestream. As he had done when he had handed her the bell.

 _Handed her what bell_?

She placed her head in her hands, shaking. It was so close but yet just out of reach. Memories beyond counting held back by some invisible wall. She railed against it to no avail, her mind aching, her heart racing.

“Why can I not remember?!?”

On hands and knees she placed the stone back on the floor and wept, still trying desperately to coax any images, and feelings, anything at all from the well of her subconscious. Her aether strained and billowed forth in waves, arching from her back in dark creases, staining the light of the room’s dim lamps and her own gas lamp still burning on near her belongings. Paikea rested against the wall to one side and seemed to glow ever so slightly as it’s master exuded barely restrained power.

“How many things must be drawn unbidden from my mind to torment me before this damnable curse relents?!”

Fists rested on stone; tail turned upward in anger. She had half a mind to lash out and bring fire to voice her despair, not unlike the now imfamous spell she had concocted in the company of Cokobuki and his siblings. A spell that almost seemed to be inspired by the fire he had lit within her. Dark and fierce.

“Was this what you had intended? To torment me from beyond the grave with this burden? Did you pass onto me that which dogged your steps for millennia? Because I had sought to find a better way for our people than to place the shackles of a god upon us?”

The room remained silent.

“ANSWER ME GODSDAMN YOU!”

Silence.

Once more the tears flowed and thought ceased. She was lost beyond words on a path not of her own making, one which she was unfamiliar of. She had ever been the master of her own destiny, and happiest in the company of her friends, her allies, her lovers. Among familiar surroundings, even in the most distant of places, and pitted against challenges great and small. All for the love of others.

But she had never stopped to consider herself, in all that time, not since the day she had left her tribe.

And now, at the end of long years of struggle, in a period of relative peace, even with new clouds of darkness on distant horizons, she found herself incapable of caring. All she could think about was him. About what had transpired in this dark pit. In this dead city.

Of his words echoing in her empty soul.

“ _A complete existence in a complete world_.”

“ _Think of it_.”

She wiped the tears from her eyes on the hem of her robes, grasping further still, almost reaching out with her hands.

“ _But such talk is a pleasure for later. Back to work, hero_.”

His characteristic gait, carried with such assurance as he waved his familiar goodbye to her. As she left to seek out new adventures away from the hustle and bustle of Amaurot.

Away from the city.

Away from him.

 _Why_?

No words met her lips. She shook, attempting to stand, but only managed to crawl back to her pack and blankets on the floor. She collapsed into them, and there wept for some time longer, attempting not to listen, feel or think. And in that moment, the tiniest sliver began to crack the wall.

She’d been so sure. They’d see each other again on the morrow. She’d only be gone a short while. He was ever the overbearing sort, doting on her endlessly when she was around to make her reports to the Convocation. She hadn’t even stopped to consider why. It had been because she was gone so often, for her duty but also because she loved being among the people, outside the city. Taking in all the sights, helping others.

He had missed her dearly when she was gone, more dearly than all the others of their kind.

When he walked from her on that day at the Ladder, not long before that fateful gunshot, he was playing out for her a scene he surely must have had play out in his mind for countless centuries. That of her, waving goodbye to him, nonchalant and certain she would see him again on the morrow.

So certain. So foolish. Oblivious to what was coming? Or willfully ignorant?

For the first time she began to see and feel the full scope of what had been buried within him. Strangely, the tears began to cease, replaced instead with bloodshot eyes staring out blankly from her spot on the floor, looking not upon the Capitol lobby but upon a jumble of scenes of that distant past.

The feeling of his hand in hers. The words of the Convocation when she had taken her seat. The pride and happiness in his eyes and aether when she was welcomed with open arms by Elidibus, then in the fullness of his life. Their friends thronging about her, congratulating her on her many achievements and welcoming her to that august body.

 _How many years did I spend with them in that happier time_?

Lahabrea. Igeyorhm. Nabriales. Dearest friends.

 _How many years did I spend with him, in that happier place_?

Halmarut. Altima. Emmerololth. Comrades, peers, mentors.

 _How many years has it been since that distant age_?

Deudalaphon. Loghrif. Fandaniel. Friendly rivals, pushing her to reach her full potential.

 _How many lifetimes have I been doing this? Over and over? Never really knowing why_?

Mitron had been the last to congratulate her, as he had been late that day, lost in some new experiment. Gave her a tour of his work in the Anyder as recompense. Such amazing sights…

“How many years…”

Emet-Selch, smirking, waiting in the wings.

And then, it all came to an end. In the screaming. The wailing and gnashing of teeth. The blood curdling sounds of those vile emanations. The Sound, beyond her hearing but like a spear wound in her heart that would not heal. Crying out for succor where none could be offered. Fires in the sky, in the seas, in the lands and the forests and the cities. Death and endless sights of loss. The end of an era. She ran and ran and ran until her legs were like to give out under the strain.

She could not recall anything beyond that moment, when she had entered the Capitol to the sound of a great shaking, and the thunderclap, and then nothing. Darkness.

The earliest memories of her own life offered no clues. So long ago now that they too, not unlike her ‘memories’ of that long gone life, seemed to fray and fade away, eaten by a gaping void.

“I murdered my friends and loved ones and didn’t even know. They didn’t know, and neither did I.”

She choked on that thought, remembering the way she had brought down Igeyorhm and Lahabrea in the heart of that Allagan hell. Nary without a thought, she had brought them low, like so many others.

“Did it even matter? Did any of this even matter?”

There had been fourteen seats there, in that place where she had destroyed Nabriales. Had they prepared a place for her?

“What the hells was any of all this for?”

She closed her eyes, head aching and muscles strained. The expenditure of aether from her body earlier had taken a toll, albeit a temporary one. Sleep was closing in again, and who knew how much time had passed. She had enough strength to wipe herself down again, stretch and drink some of the water in her canteen. Its cool embrace flowed down her throat and gave her a welcome distraction from that endless darkness that now gazed at her from within.

She unceremoniously collapsed back into the waiting blankets and fell immediately into a deep slumber.

***

This time, no dreams or visions or memories, only all consuming blackness. She slept for hours and hours, as if transfixed in stasis, held aloft in empty nothingness within her mind, completely still.

As she slept, the Azem stone remained upon the ground. From within it’s depths, a small light began to brighten.


	2. The Beginning

“ _To begin, you first must see the end_.”

“That sounds like something a stuffy scholar might say to make themselves sound erudite. Tell me true, Hades.”

“ _I mean it! One cannot properly discern the currents of the Underworld without seeing the end of a life, and the beginning of its journey towards new horizons, new truths_.”

A desk within the Cocytus Library. Evening over Amaurot. Many years before the Final Days. Two faces buried in books and among concept crystals, hers in a white mask, his in a red one, smiles peeking from beneath them.

“So you’ve witnessed death then, many times?”

He pressed a pair of fingers to his temples, just above the mask.

“ _It is a part of my position among the elect to tend to the needs of our most venerable citizens, those close to the end of their lives. I approach the task with the necessary decorum and respect_.”

He turned away towards the high wrought windows and stars above, shining through them.

“ _Even so, I would be remiss to say that I enjoyed every aspect of my work… a reminder of the loss that awaits us all_.”

He turned back to her again, characteristic smile returned.

“ _But it also gladdens me to see them pass in peace, and with the knowledge that, down the line, they will all return to us in new forms, to lead new lives and find new fulfillment and experiences. So it has ever been_.”

He seemed to cling to unseen truths as he saw them. Who could say if he truly believed them, or how true they really were. She chuckled.

“You seem pretty convinced, so I suppose I could play along then. How might I bear witness to this passage?”

“ _Even without the blessing of years or natural talent, all among us are able to discern some imprint of the soul as it moves in it’s mysterious ways. I dare say you’ve already seen close to all that I have, even at your age_!”

“I should think I would remember something like a spirit passing me by?”

“ _It is less a conscious thing, and more an awareness. Like standing in the midst of an ever-present river, flowing in many directions, outward from oneself but also inwards, towards the heart_.”

He placed a hand upon her robes, near her chest.

“ _If I may_?”

She acquiesced with a nod.

“ _Close your eyes, and focus on my aether_.”

She closed her eyes, and reached out to him through his arm and the closeness of his warm figure. In a moment they were above their bodies, mingling with the currents of life that permeated the whole of their world. His aether seemed to turn and direct her sight upwards, to the heavens, wherein she could see the occasional shooting star and wispy cloud, far above the city.

Then, he directed her sight down again, towards the many buildings, the streets, the parks and fountains and rivers. Vast and stretching out in all directions. And everywhere, there was the people, moving about their daily tasks or retiring for the evening. Some debated this or another matter in the shadow of the library where they sat in communion, others sat alone on park benches, regarding the heavens, lost in thought. A few could see them, and seemed to offer silent acknowledgement at their passing, nodding or smiling from beneath their masks and hooded robes.

He heard his voice in her mind, or perhaps her soul.

“ _Even in the streets of the city, we walk not only among the living, but in the company of the departed. In the shadow of the works of those who came before, and in the midst of their ambient aether, nurturing the Star_.”

He turned her gaze far to the horizon, and the wide world beyond, a place she had never been. Not yet.

There in those distant scenes, from beneath trees and smaller artifices, life continued much as it did in the city. And death walked with them as well.

And as in the city, she began to discern the faintest hints of memories, and imprints. Emotions. Aether that seemed to leave a piece of itself as it traveled, to remember them by. And then each memory faded away.

“ _Death is more common among our brethren who choose to live in the world outside the city. They do necessary work, but I have often found cause to go forth into their midst to tend to those taken before their time_.”

“Have you spent much time in the company of Azem, then?”

His aether shifted, and seemed to hesitate.

“ _There has… the last occupant of that seat has but recently passed themselves, after a long and fruitful career. I had just returned from the outside not long ago, when the news reached us. I gave them a fitting farewell. A finer peer I have not known_.”

Reality snapped back into focus. They were back within the library. She took a moment to compose herself as he continued, this time with his voice.

“ _It was something I have spoken of, to find a new occupant. Many of our peers, such as my friend Hythlodaeus, directed me to you as a possible candidate. I was skeptical at first, but_ …”

He seemed to regard her for a few silent moments, his face unreadable.

“ _You hold great potential within you_. _Even beyond the sight to see death, and all the rest_.”

“I can hardly call myself anything special. I’ve barely had the opportunity to share my works within the Forum, or my concepts at the Akadaemia…”

He smirked, the first time she remembered him doing so with her.

“ _Your humility does you credit, but I will hear none of it. Your work with the avian concepts under Lahabrea and among the librarians here was inspired. You’ve risen in a short time to be indispensable to this place, but I sense that you spend more time with books than with people not because you dislike them, but because you are so enamoured of our history, and the world outside these walls. A world denied you_.”

She would admit, he was not entirely wrong.

“ _You have lived the requisite years, and I can see a longing in you to see many more, but outside of this controlled environment. To tackle problems head on. To embrace change, and find new solutions we would struggle to see, bound as we are by a delicate balance_.”

He placed a hand on her arm.

“ _You seem eager to see the world, and could achieve much for the benefit of the Convocation, and this Star. Think of it_.”

She was at a loss for words. His kind demeanor unlike any she had known, even after an eon in the company of so many kind souls, all encouraging, and ever with a helping hand. But his focus seemed… different somehow. Like his mind was in two places at once in this moment.

Pausing a second longer before removing his hand, he rose from his seat.

“ _There is much to do, if you are to be prepared for this position. But I suspect you will be up to the tasks ahead. I require only an admission of your intent_.”

She still lacked for words to come to her lips, but nodded, as if following some inner impulse, filled with excitement at the prospect of joining the Convocation. A reflex that she often seemed to follow in his presence.

Another smile.

“ _I would hear your thoughts. Worry not, you are in the company of a friend_.”

“Are you sure I could be worthy of this honour? I-I mean, I don’t know if I could… what does this role even entail?”

“ _Even for all the preparation in the world, we among the elect who guide the Star upon it’s proper course must ever be in debate, heeding our own wills and the words of our peers, both on the Convocation and beyond, among the wider populace_.”

He guided her by the hand towards the lobby of the library slowly as they continued to talk, passing by silent robed figures as they sat and read, bearing little if any attention to their passage. Lamps burned bright in ensconced corners, casting diverse shadows over their forms.

“ _But none among us is truly ever prepared for the enormity of our respective roles, and spend our entire lives learning to fill them to the best of our ability. Some things, not unlike the sight to see the Underworld, must come with time and patience, and a willingness to learn_.”

They reached the front doors. He placed a hand upon the threshold, and hesitated.

“ _The role of Azem is, in this sense, among the more unconventional and freeform of the elected positions. Something that changes to adapt to the conditions of the world outside, and one which takes its bearer far from Amaurot for extended periods. It is not an easy role by any means_.”

The cool air of night. The doors shut gently behind them. Walking down the steps, waving passively as passersby move about, before coming to a quiet corner in the nearby park. A bench.

“ _Come, sit with me a moment longer, if it pleases you_.”

Another nod.

“ _We have known each other for a long time, you and I_.”

“Yes, we have, and it still fills me with joy when you visit the Library from time to time, when you are able. I remember the day we met.”

“ _In the Forum, in the company of dear Hythlodaeus. I can still hear his laughter as that avian concept of yours plopped itself upon my shoulder and… unceremoniously relieved itself upon my robe…_ ”

“Oho! I was mortified! A Convocation member of such esteem and I allowed my creation to soil his clothes! I thought I would never live down the shame.”

“ _But I took a liking to the bird, and in turn to you. Another of Hythlodaeus’ little pranks, but it was a pleasure, all the same, to know you_.”

“And I you.”

He was silent for a long time, staring up at the stars as they continued to glimmer above them. Water from a nearby river continued to make it’s way down the canal, flanked on all sides by towering spires of gleaming light, which somehow failed to blot out the sky and it’s embrace.

“ _I called on you this evening to offer you the position, and its related responsibilities, in my capacity as Emet-Selch. Elidibus was adamant, for reasons I can only begin to guess, that it be me that came to you to ask_.”

She finally found her words again, feeling more at ease.

“I would be interested, yes. To learn of Azem. But tell me as well; what troubles you?”

She could sense something had been following him, dogging at his mind the entire time they had been together tonight, talking as they had about academic matters, and of the city, and of the roles they played.

He removed his mask. A rare occurrence, among the denizens of Amaurot. The first time she had seen his face unguarded.

“ _But, in this moment, I would speak to you now as I am. As Hades. As your friend, to ask you a question that has been on my mind for some time…_ ”

“Yes?”

His face was shrouded in the darkness of the night, and of his robe. Still hard to discern, even in the starlight and lamplight abundant around them. She hesitated, then placed her hand on his gently.

“I know, Hades. I have known for some time. How you feel.”

He looked up at her, a sense of some shock, but also genuine surprise.

“And I feel the same.”

Her hand tightened on his.

“I would be honoured to work alongside you, among the Convocation. And if I should need to travel, I will do so with your memory close at hand, wherever I should go. And the knowledge that, no matter how far I should go from this place, I will always have cause to return. Not just because of duty, but out of love.”

She removed her mask. He attempted to mouth the words of her name but could only stutter, before she reached in and kissed him on the lips. They hung there in that moment for a long time, hands embraced, warm against the cold air.

“ _You have a way with words, my lady, when it suits you_.”

“I have many things I would show you, when it suits me.”

They at last relented, and sat a while, chuckling together and reminiscing.

“Thank you for thinking of me, all these years. And giving me this chance.”

“ _I could say the same, Azem_.”

Laughter, and another brief kiss. The beginning of their time together. He walked her home, and there departed with a smile. She stayed up late that night, writing feverishly, mind blossoming with new ideas, and the sweet memory of that moment.

She had hoped it would always stay with her, wherever she went.

***

A cold stone floor. Blankets strewn again hither and dither, not unlike before on her bed in the Pendants. Her back ached, and she felt stiff in her joints.

“ _I have many things I would show you, when it suits me_.”

The stone remained upon the ground before her, slightly glowing.

“Am… I still dreaming?”

“ _Remember_.”

“I would rather not remember. I would rather live.”

“ _The distinction is blurred. Give it time_.”

“Where does it end?”

“ _At the beginning_.”

“And what does that mean?”

Silence.

“Godsdamnit Hades cut the crap and tell me what I need to do.”

Silence.

“I swear on the Convocation I’ll throw this stone into the mouth of a morbol and allow them to spend a nice long time digesting it if you don’t speak plain!”

“ _Think_.”

She sighed. The Beginning?

“ _Snap your fingers_.”

“I tried that already.”

“ _You remember. The beginning_.”

“ _Think back. Snap your fingers_.”

She closed her eyes, and thought back on that moment in the library. His smiling face. Their lesson on the Underworld.

She snapped her fingers. No sounds, but then.

“ _Very good, hero. I knew you had it in you_.”

The words had been inside her mind before. Now they were in front of her.

Emet-Selch, smirking, waiting in the wings. Mere ilms in front of her, standing above the stone, just as he had been. She was completely lost for a reaction, body draining of thought or feeling or energy, simply all consumed by this image of the man before her.

He shrugged his characteristic shrug, shaking his head.

“ _Is there aught you would say to me? Even after all this time you certainly don’t lack for awkward moments; you look like you’re about to fall over_!”

And this she did, into his arms, weeping profusely as the weight of millennia enshrouded her and flowed out from her eyes. He wrapped his arms around her. In this she knew the truth of this form before her.

“An aethereal shard of you, preserved but not entirely like how you were. When we met… met again. How?”

“ _In time of greatest need, should you wish upon it with all your heart, it will surely answer your call_.”

“And it did, it did, on the Tower, and with…”

“ _I know_.”

“But… was not the spell spent? I saw you depart…”

He lifted her face up to look at him, wiping tears from her eyes with his gloved hands.

“ _An enchantment of eld does not end with only one casting. No, in our day, such things could endure for eons if the caster willed it. And such things proved all the more important in buying us time in those final days, when we sought to save every soul we could.”_

He smiled down at her.

 _“You saved so many, summoning allies and friends to your side in much that same way. To gather them. And to fight the encroaching end_.”

He leaned into her ear, whispering.

“ _Though I departed from the field, t’was merely back into the stone, to therein bind my soul anew within that vessel of hope. And wait for you to find me. As I knew you would_.”

“Why did you not speak with him? Or with me?”

“ _It was not my place to interfere.”_

“But you did interfere!”

 _“I merely leveled the playing field for you. And I would not suffer to see him wastefully cast you aside after so long. But I also needed to be certain. Now I am_.”

“Certain?”

Callousness.

“Certain of what? Was not my sending an axe through your chest not enough? Was not all my words and deeds not enough? What else must I have done? How much must you test me to see the worth in me?”

She shook herself from his arms, taking up her clawed gloves and Paikea again, standing it firm upon the floor. A battle stance.

“Would you rather we handle this again as we did?”

The aether changed in him, darkened, ease and happiness in reunion turning to something else, but not anger. Regret? She pressed him.

“You manipulated me to be rid of that blasted primal, didn’t you?”

“ _And it worked, did it not? After a fashion. Though I am sadly bereft of a corporeal form for the nonce, chained as I am now to your stone of office. An item not unlike the original, and powerful in many ways_.”

“Your great error, their great error, has cost countless of our brethren their lives! Not to mention what you’ve been doing since! And the Rejoinings!”

“ _It was not my error alone, and it was not done alone! And certainly, it was not done without undue motivation_!”

A reflection of that moment, when he had stood before the door, now seemingly reversed. It was her in his position now, chiding him.

“You cannot have been so foolish as to assume I would just forgive you from the start and fall into your arms. It has never been my way to forgive easily.”

“ _I had not wished to meet again only to exchange blows or anger. I just wanted to see you again_.”

His sighs still carried the weight of centuries.

“Well, here I am, a malformed creature. A memory. You built all of this for me, you _knew_ it was me. Since that moment in the plaza. And yet you chose to do all of what you did anyway. Almost killed me, turned me against those I held dear. And for what, the Ardor?”

“ _My actions were not entirely my own. You must understand-_ “

“I understand enough of why you did what you did but none of this, not even this conversation, would have been possible had you not been willing to go along with that blasted god of yours from the start.”

Tears welled in her eyes anew, but she held them back.

“Yes, I am happy to see you again. I’ve been trying to find you since that last goodbye. I couldn’t… I needed to find you. To learn who I was. What we were…”

She turned her head downwards.

“But I cannot just look the other way at what you’ve been doing these many millennia.”

“ _I was trying to find you_.”

“Did finding me require the death of countless innocents?”

At this he clammed up. That ugly truth, stuck in the throat in one so devoted to the truth all his long life.

She desired not to belabour the point, softening her tone.

“How long have you been doing all of this? Trying to find me?”

“ _More summers than I can care to count, and certainly more than a mortal could conceive to live. Much of it was spent in slumber, not unlike how I was after Solus passed into history, though Varis and Elidibus called me back far sooner than expected. I knew then something was different_.”

“Because of the things I had done, and the failures of Loghrif and Mitron on the First.”

“ _Just so_.”

He paced about, still unable to meet her eyes, but continued.

“ _In those far gone times, after the Sundering, I had searched and searched, every shard, every corner of creation such as it was. I could not find you. No speck of you, no shard, no hint, nothing. It was a torture without end, to be separated from you. I had even thought for a time it was HER doing, that you had somehow commingled with them, those who had dissented, who called Her forth_.”

He placed a hand to his chin, studying his fingers one by one.

“ _Centuries began to pass, and the last memories among the sundered shards began to fray. Igeyorhm was the first to be found and ascended back to her position, but it would be many more years before any others were found and salvaged, and before she began to return to the fullness of herself that you once bore witness to. It was she who helped myself, Lahabrea and Elidibus deduce your fate was not with those who had summoned Hydaelyn_.”

He finally turned to her. His eyes no longer had any readable emotion, seemingly staring off somewhere else, through her.

“ _I kept up the search, age after age, but it was as if you had been erased from the weave of the world. Until now. But by now, I had given up hope of ever seeing you again. And in that bitterness, I gave up what had remained of myself to Him. To the mission. It seemed the only logical path left.”_

He approached her but a step, arm outstretched.

 _“I would bring you back like all the others. But I saw only one way. One that required… sacrifices…_ ”

He grimaced.

“ _And I was wrong. And now it seems as though it is too late to feel regret now, or ask for forgiveness. Rejoinings cannot be undone, nor can lives lost be saved, as perhaps it ever was for our kind. What a cold irony it is, that after all this searching it would be you who would find me_.”

“Why did Hythlodaeus say that my seat had been abandoned and forgotten?”

“ _Because when you last left… there was much heated debate, arguments. Divisions forming. Over the coming calamity and our response. We had no answers. You grew impatient, as ever. Worried for your comrades outside the walls of Amaurot. I wanted to keep you close to me, safe, and among the Convocation where your views could be shared, and an answer found together_.”

“ _But you had to go, you told me. Reassured me it would only be until the morrow. You would gather them all up and bring them here to safety. Days became weeks, and I was surrounded only by an increasing despair, of my peers increasingly becoming unhinged by the pressure of that awful Sound coming closer and closer… and at your absence. I had even feared you dead_.”

“ _Certainly, it was the last time I saw you, until now_.”

“What happened?”

“ _On the day, that this shadow of the city commemorates, just before that terrible ending, we had resolved to summon Zodiark, a being of Lahabrea’s design, and Elidibus was to become the heart to stabilize it. Many agreed with this plan, others were wary, but there was no more time to delay. On that evening, we made final preparations. Your absence was felt, keenly. Bitterly so_.”

“ _Bitterness became anger, and as your dearest friend, I was placed at it’s mercy. Demands were made. If you were not to share in our sacrifice, you would not share in the world to come. And so your seat was expunged, waved away with a flick of the wrist. A snap of the fingers. My fingers_.”

For the first time she could ever remember, he began to cry himself, her tears still held in some cold shock. She dropped her staff to the ground, fingers loosened by this sight.

“ _We knew, afterwards, in our hearts, it had been a lapse. A dire mistake. For you had already returned that day, and even then were rushing up the steps to the Capitol. Too late…_ ”

He collapsed, as she had done some hours before. On hands and knees before her now.

“ _I had lost you, and thought for the longest time that this single act, of my relenting to pressure, of casting you aside in anger and bitter sadness, had caused you to be undone from all creation forever. And when the centuries became millennia unceasing, I slowly began to believe it, and lost myself. I no longer cared about any of this_!”

He wept at her feet, unable to contain himself, aether now arching from his back and body as it had done with her own not long before.

“ _I gave everything to Zodiark, and to the memory of our people. To those who yet remained, though I already could begin to see the changes in them, especially Elidibus, who became colder and more distant with each passing year. I grieved and grieved, and the tears never ceased to flow. Until, one day, I could no longer even feel my own soul, towering as it did over all those we walked with, in seeking to achieve our ‘great work’_.”

She knelt down to hear him closer. The ocean beyond continued to churn in the background.

“ _I sank a great deal of effort into trying to find you, but also into trying to find some value in these people, as you had once done with those beyond the city walls. Those who, even in the days of paradise, had been viewed with suspicion and disbelief, for who would willingly forsake all that we had built in our perfect world for a harder life outside_?”

She was shaking, her hands unable to lift from her side.

“ _But you saw it, the value in their striving, and I saw it in them too, in those rare moments where the tempering relented for a time. In the Allagans, in the Gougs and Archadians, forebears of my latest creation. Yes, even in Garlemald. But also in the peoples who became your Eorzeans, long before there was any notion of an ‘Eorzea’. And countless others. The souls of those beyond the walls found shards in places such as your Eorzea most fervently, on every shard, as if recalling somewhere deep inside the lives they had led, and sought out again_.”

His frantic pace finally began to slow, as he seemed to tire, a not unfamiliar feeling, even for him.

“ _I should have known you would have sought them out first. Become one with them. But by your arrival I was ending my time as Solus, and was dead to the world_.”

“Quite a tale, you weave. I recall learning from Amon and Jenomis of your love of theater.”

His face brightened, if only for a moment, at these names.

“ _Amon was… eccentric. But he shared my love of the stage and helped me to design a place to attempt, at least, to rival the theaters of dear Amaurot. We once spent many a night ensconced in such a place, in that other time, huddled close together, watching plays and tragedies galore. It was one of the few pleasures to survive into this new world that brought me even a glimmer of peace_.”

He began to rise again to his feet, continuing.

“ _Jenomis was the last to rouse my light, and for that I gave him his airship, and freedom to roam_.”

“I spoke a good deal with him about you. I couldn’t have guessed then… all of this.”

His face now looked at her unable to express anything more. He was drained, as she was.

“You wanted to understand.”

“ _And I ultimately chose not to. Even with Zodiark always at my back, it was simply easier. To fall into comfortable routines, fantasies, memories. Embracing hatred more readily than empathy. And it ate away at me as surely as it did any of us Ascians. Time has that effect_.”

“ _I believe I recall… your Ardbert once said to you. ‘Do not make the choice that will leave you alone. Solitude will eat away at you’. He was right_.”

She placed a hand on her chest, and felt that familiar stir.

“ _When I saw you again I could scarcely believe it, and in my state then could not allow myself to. After so long, hope was a dream beyond any other. So instead I sought to test you, to put to the proof the error of my senses. That it could not possibly be you. And every time…_ ”

She finally found the strength to take his hand in hers again.

“ _You achieved more than I could have hoped. To my considerable surprise_.”

“From what I’ve been able to gather, I’ve always been full of surprises.”

“ _It was why Hythlodaeus introduced us. He loved such things, and believed that I was in need of some ‘excitement’ in my life otherwise devoted to the passage of the dead_.”

They stood silent for a while, hand in hand and growing closer, eyes studying one another in the dim light. Her gas lamp had begun to burn out, and Paikea remained still upon the floor, dormant.

“ _There is nothing I can say, to justify my actions. I have long since ceased to be the man you loved. I have lived too long. Far, far too long_.”

“And yet you did all this, to help me remember. And made this memory a part of your soul again. You wanted to be free. And now, here we are.”

“ _I wouldn’t quite call this freedom_.”

“But it is a start.”

She squeezed his hand, almost running through its incorporeal nature. Firm, but supportive.

“What was cannot be again, not in an instant. And you must make things right, undo what damage you can. Starting with Garlemald.”

“ _I was hoping you would mention; I believe I left some old clones of myself there. Something to house this form_.”

At this her ears and face perked up.

“You must have planned this for a long time.”

He waved his arms about the room for a moment.

“ _Not quite all of this, but I am always plotting, every hour of the day_.”

“And what, perchance, might you be plotting now?”

His arm was at her waist. He smirked.

“ _Old habits die hard_.”

“It is not unwelcome.”

She placed her forehead against his and looked into his eyes.

“I know not where I’ve been, save for this lifetime, which has been a wonderful one in many ways. I’ve known sorrow and hardship aplenty, but also happiness, companionship, love.”

“ _Should I be jealous_?”

“No; they will understand in time. I will help them see. Some will find it easier than others. I imagine Urianger will be little surprised by this. But Cid? To see the face of his former emperor; it will be a lot to take in, these truths.”

She studied his eyes a while.

“It will not be easy, but nothing in this life has ever been easy, even back in Amaurot. You paper over a great deal in this artifice, Hades, but I remember more and more with each visit. I remember why I wanted to see the world, too.”

“ _I know. But it can be hard to remember, when one is burdened so_.”

He paused.

“ _Even without the old duty, I am uncertain how I will ever come to adjust to this world, as it is now. And surely you must know that this tale is far from over_.”

“But now, I no longer need to face it alone, without the benefit of my dearest friend.”

She kissed his lips, as she had done on that cold Amaurot night, so long ago.

“ _I had forgotten… this…_ ”

She smiled. A plan began to form in her mind, though she wondered if she had the knowledge to see it through.

In another mimicry of memories both distant and more recent, she withdrew from his side. She undid her robe, and loosened her remaining attire and aether as best she could. Then she turned to face his increasingly surprised visage.

“You told me, to see the beginning, I must first see the end. I would ask you now to come and see with me.”

He attempted to mouth the words of her name, but she could not be certain if it were her ancient name or her current one he spoke. In a moment, he approached, and simply spoke.

“ _Azem_?”

“You have showed me so much. It is only fair I returned the favour. Come, and I will show you.”

She took his hand, and began to take his aether into her own, as they had once done in the library. Outstretching from the stone that contained him as well as her own form, she took him up, far above the shadow city into the murky depths of the ocean, and then from there up into the ocean’s surface, and the sky.

Dawn was beginning to appear on the horizon, and in the distance the lights of Eulmore were visible, beginning to fade one by one in anticipation of the sun. She took him high into the sky, then from there across the length and breadth of Norvrandt, to see all the places and peoples she had met upon her travels through the First.

The fisherfolk of Kholusia, and their renewed friendship with the dwarves high above.

The Mord of Amh Araeng, and the miners and workmen of Twine, who even now sought to shake off the dust of the Flood’s long dormancy to begin again.

The pixies of Il Mheg, memories themselves given form of long gone Voeburt, timeless and full of energy, leading mischievous lives, or seeking harmony with nature and their new world. For a moment, she could almost make out Seto, catching a glimpse of their flight across the sky.

Rak’tika, with its towering trees and ancient murals, and the many tribes of Night’s Blessed, the Viis of Ronka, and the Qitari, now living in harmony, honouring the memories of ancient days as best they could.

Lakeland, and the Crystarium, the labour of generations under the visionary leadership of another, dear friend. Now free to build a future all their own, however they chose. It too slowly began to stir in the morning hour, its many craftsmen and guards waking and walking to their posts, steeped in hearty conversation and jest.

Her room in the Pendants, just as she had left it.

The length of the Crystal Tower, to where history was made, again and again. Where she had dueled many evils old and new, and brought low another friend, to bring him peace. Did his aether slumber still, within that spire of glinting blue?

And on into the heavens, from which a scarred, whiteblasted world now stared back, but with the beginnings of new life in tiny specks upon it’s surface, distant from Norvrandt but visible all the same. Eden’s work, and of Ryne and Gaia. Of Urianger and Thancred, now returned home.

Her work, but in truth, moreso theirs. She had simply shown them the way. He could see it all, and them, as she had.

And now she showed him the way. Gathering his stars about her, and in that place amidst the heavens, embracing him as she had in ancient days.

After what seemed an eternity of release and joy, they found themselves back down to earth, and the depths of the abyss. His familiar surroundings.

“ _Even in the past… I did not realize… that you knew how… to do that_!”

They both caught their breath, the labour of that journey a trial for both of them.

“Aha… I was a quick study even before I took my seat. I remember.”

“ _You do. You do_!”

His voice was unlike how she had ever remembered it, before or since. It was light, and more full of the man she loved.

“Hades.”

“ _Whatever it takes. I will do it. I will make amends to you. To them. I will make this right, and see in them what you see_.”

“I know you will. Don’t think for a second I would let you go into that long goodbye without coming along for at least one last adventure. I’m far from done with you.”

A playful, sinister tone. He grinned.

“ _You have a way with words, my lady, when it suits you_.”

“I have many things I would show you, when it suits me.”

This time it was her hand on his waist, squeezing tight.

“ _I have missed you_.”

“I have missed you too.”

Another lingering kiss, and tight embrace.

***

She began to gather her things, as Hades took in the sight of the Capitol once more.

“ _My aether begins to wear, even so close to the anchor. I should retire to the stone_.”

“I will find your clones, then, soon as I am able. There is much to do.”

“ _I will ever be at your side, when you need me. Just snap your fingers, hero_.”

She smiled.

“I will try not to overtax you. Mayhap I will allow you to linger in there for a while, and rest. You will need it for what I have planned…”

He was uncertain whether to be excited or frightened, and at this simply chuckled.

“ _Oh I have not felt so in… I cannot even remember_.”

“I suppose then we both have some catching up to do. But come.”

She held out the Azem stone to him.

“ _I love you_.”

“I love you too. Now go.”

A final kiss, brief. As she opened her eyes, he was gone, and the stone pulsed anew, a deeper warmth, bright orange.

“ _I will be waiting_.”

She smiled, and caught another tear in her eye. But this time it was a happy one. She had found her answers at last.

With another brief check of her belongings, she dressed and returned to the doors. Within a moment, she was gone.

***

It was near to midday when Inewyl spied that familiar hat and black robes forming from the sea, climbing onto the docks of the Venmont Yards, shaking the water and algae of the ocean floor from her midst before walking towards him.

“Ah, if it ain’t my favourite Warrior o’ Darkness, back again from the depths and seemingly lighter in step! I trust yer long sojourn was a fruitful one?”

She chuckled.

“Indeed it was my friend, indeed it was. Very much so.”

“So what now adventurer? You look a bit weary from all that wandering about, can’t have gotten much sleep in those depths. Some time in a nice bed would set you right I reckon.”

“Perhaps, but I would return to some research first. I have much to do.”

“By all means then. Need anything else ‘fore ye depart?”

She thought a moment.

“Have any of that new vintage from Wright, by chance?”

He had procured a bottle the other day, in anticipation of a friend’s recent arrival, but as they had taken ill in the Crystarium and was yet recovering, he felt he would have time to acquire another. He went to the nearby storeroom where he had hidden it, and produced it for her.

“A recent one, but has a kick to her, sure as the salt air. I’m sure it’ll please mi’lady. And maybe any of her many compatriots?”

“A fine gift.”

She placed a large sack of gil in his hand, three times the worth of the bottle.

“Take this, and my thanks, for your understanding and help. And for the bottle. Buy him something special next time you visit the Crystarium. I imagine some crab cakes will go over well after he’s done recovering.”

Inewyl was aghast. How could she possibly know? He had never spoken of him, or much else for that matter, to her. She simply smiled and continued.

“Old trick. Long story. I’ll tell your grandchildren sometime, in better times. Promise.”

He could only nod and smile along.

“Yer a strange one by far, Warrior, but I won’t let yer kindness to me and mine go to waste. I look forward to that future meeting, whenever it may be.”

He handed her the bottle, and just as quickly waved her off as a Talos bearing supplies for new ships arrived from Wright. He shrugged.

“No rest for the wicked, eh? Until then!”

“All my best.”

She walked up the ramp and, after a few moments, was mounted and far along the horizon, in the direction of the Crystarium.

***

She closed the door. Her familiar room. And it’s now increasingly familiar occupant had returned. It sat upon the kitchen table, unmoving and unblinking.

“ _Ah, a word to the wise, dearest. When next you summon me, be sure to keep that bird away from my robes this time_?”

She chuckled.

“Of course. Wouldn’t want to embarrass myself again.”

She placed the stone on the desk next to her, and began to write again. Of recent days, and long ago.

She would remember.


End file.
